You
can’t come to the Northwest peninsula of Newfoundland
without noticing an abundance of things related to Vikings. That is because a
Norse settlement was discovered here in the 1960’s. In the decade around 1000
A.D. Nordic expeditions from Greenland used this area as a year-round base to
search for resources, calling the land Vinland.
They eventually abandoned it, setting it on fire as they left.
L’Anse
aux Meadows National Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site preserves
this archeological property and shares this significant snippet of history with
visitors.
When
we first arrived we went up the hill to see what all these Norse people were
looking at. Barbara thinks they were all looking for a letterbox, since there
was one in that direction. HaHa.
We
checked out the visitor center with its interesting displays and then took a
ranger-led tour through the archaeological site.
The
tour ended at a reconstructed Norse settlement with its sod houses where living
history interpreters explain aspects of the settlement.
The
Norse knew how to fashion iron and there is evidence that they smelted bog ore
into iron nails for boat repair here at this site.
We
should also mention what we saw before and afterward. On the way to L’Anse aux
Meadows we spotted two icebergs. The channel here between Newfoundland
and Labrador is known as Iceberg Alley.
After
the tour we asked about the hiking trail. The ranger gave us the details and
told us people just saw a momma moose and 2 babies. “Let’s go!” So we took the
trail and looked for moose. We’ve done a lot of looking for moose while in Newfoundland. We saw
some fresh moose tracks, but no moose. We did see – what we always see in
Canadian National Parks – red chairs!
We
got a glimpse of Labrador in the distance. And
we came upon some snow. It’s July 5th! So we made a snowman.
As
we were leaving the park we noticed cars pulled off to the side of the road…
Finally … Moose!
We
ended the day with some partridgeberry topped carrot cake from Dark Tickle for
dessert. A gal we met on the trail a few days ago highly recommended it, so we
had to give it a try. Yum!
